Design and validation of an instrument to test students’ understanding of the apparent motion of the Sun and stars

Abstract

YOllllg children, students, and adults may have altemative ideas about the motion ofthe Sllll and stars as we observe them in the sky. However, a good llllderstanding ofthis apparent motion is essential as a starting point to study more advanced astronomical concepts, especially when these include astronomical observations. In this paper, we describe the development and validation of the apparent motion of Sllll and stars (AMoSS) test, which can measure to what extent students have insight into the apparent motion of the Sun and stars. We propose a framework that allows one to compare students' understanding of the specific aspects of these apparent motions in relation to the time of the day, time of the year, and the observer's latitude. For each of these aspects, we designed test items for both the Sllll and the symmetric apparent motion aspect of the stars. The reliability and validity of the test are established by analyzing answers of both secondary school and university students and by presenting the questions to a panel of experts. We report on the design and validation process and present the fmal version of the test.

Comparing students’ knowledge of the apparent motion of the Sun and stars across four European countries

“…In the context of the European Erasmus+ project TASTE we investigated to what extent secondary school students have insight in the apparent motion of the Sun and stars. We have administered the AMoSS test (Bekaert et al (2020)) with 12 multiple choice questions to 348 students (13-17 years old), coming from four different European countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece and Italy). The systematic design of the AMoSS test, with six Sun- related questions and six parallel star-related questions, allows us to compare students' understanding of the Sun's apparent motion with their understanding of the stars' apparent motion.…”

“…Unfortunately they were not able to transform this knowledge to the stars: most students could not explain the stars' apparent motion. Bekaert et al (2020) report in their validation study of the AMoSS test that both Belgian secondary school students (16-17 years old) and university students only have a rudimentary understanding of the apparent motion of celestial bodies: they can not describe how the apparent motion of the stars differ from the Sun. Most students do not know for example that the culmination height of the stars stays fixed throughout the year.…”

“…We used the AMoSS test instrument to investigate to what extent students have insight in the apparent motion of the Sun and stars (Bekaert et al (2020)). This test consists of 12 multiple choice questions, which focus on distinctions between different aspects of the apparent motion of the Sun and stars (See Table I).…”

“…First, although people experience the Sunrise and Sunset every day, previous research has shown that young children, students and adults have difficulties properly describing and explaining the Sun's apparent motion (Bailey and Slater (2003); Lelliott and Rollnick (2009); Plummer et al (2011); Testa et al (2015); Trumper (2000); Bekaert et al (2022)). When it comes to stars it seems to be worse: they think that the stars' apparent motion does not differ from the Sun, stars are fixed in the sky or move opposite to the Sun (Vosniadou and Brewer (1994); Plummer (2009); Bekaert et al (2020)). In the context of the European TASTE project we aim at investigating whether these conclusions hold true also for the four participating countries.…”

“…In this article we report on findings on student thinking about the apparent motion of the Sun and stars, based on the administration of the Apparent Motion of the Sun and Stars (AMoSS) test (Bekaert et al (2020)) to a group of 13-17 years old students of four European countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece and Italy). We are interested in examining students' basic knowledge and the mental models that they use while explaining their answers.…”